Hunter

This is my story, my life, my curse. My name is Hunter, I have no last name, no middle and no idea who my family is. Family is such an interesting word, I guess you can say I had a family, not by blood, but by trust. Read this is to learn of my life my hardships and trials and of me. But know that my life has little to rejoice in and little joy. Learn now my past, my Legacy.
It was a foggy night. A harvest moon filled the sky of a unknown presence filled the air. A man ran through the forest. A forest that was known as the Chutale forest. Although the town called it the two-faced forest. The name was fairly accurate in describing the two sides that the forest had. During the day, it was a prosperous place filled with wildlife and beauty. But when the sun was pulled away by the horizon with it all its light and warmth, the second side of the forest took no time to reveal it's self. A evil place that the rulers of the forest such as wolves and owl's hide fearing there own death and destruction. For a far more power lives in this forest at night. Evil, creatures of the dark lord rule the forest at night like werewolves, dark spirits and other deadly evils live. They cannot be found by day, but they seem to appear the minute darkness consumes the forest, it is there world now. The people of the city by the forest shut there doors tight and dare not peak out the windows in fear the evil will see them. But knowing all this, the man still ran even when the bravest of soldiers would dare leave there porch. This man was not the strongest, nor fastest. But he was driven by a instinct, he did not know where it came from. But when he laid his head down to sleep. His eyes shot open. For in his head there was a voice that said, "Go to the forest". The man knowing himself not to be insane got up. For being a religious man, he knew this must be a power greater them him. Checking his daughter before he left, the man left the house grasping his scythe outside his door. He knew he had a reason to go, and that he must accomplish it, and that nothing could interfere with his mission. So the man ran. Ten minutes later into the woods, the man stopped, gasping for breath. He had been lucky, he had not seen even the tracks of a wolf, or anything else. He would have much rather found a wolf than a werewolf. The man started walking deeper into the woods. The man had never been this far in the woods, even in the day light but he seemed to know where he was going, as if being led by an invisible force. A couple of minutes later. The man came to a clearing. Ahead he saw a sight that told him what his purpace was. He knew why he had to come to the forest to night, he prayed for the strength for what he was about to do. In the middle of the clearing, lay a child. No more then a year old the child was accompanied by at least a dozen werewolves. What appeared to be the leader was sniffing the crying baby. The other wolves, were sitting in a circle. The man was very relieved to see that not all of the werewolves were werewolves. Werewolves are at least two times the size of regular wolves, there muzzles are two times wider with longer sharper teeth and werewolves have a extremely heavy coat of fur. Werewolves have two forms, there wolf form and there humanoid form. There humanoid form was basically the same except for there torso is much wider and extremely like a muscular male human, they have two massive teeth that stick out of there mouth about as big as a dagger. And there feet are wider to help support there bulkier body along with slender but sturdy legs that allow the werewolf speed and the ability to stand up right and offer speed when down on all fours. In the dozen wolves, only four were werewolves. The others were regular wolves sticking to the alpha male in order to be protected by the alpha male and have some power in this evil land. The man stepped into the clearing, the harvest moon shined in from the sky. Every wolf seemed to sense him the second he entered. The child was quickly forgotten as they slowly walked towards the man. They formed a circle around him. The man quickly ran towards the child. The wolves quickly formed the circle again when he reached the child. He inspected it to find that he was in good condition. There were no signs on how the child was brought here. The wolves couldn't have brought him without leaving a bite mark when carrying him and there were no tracks. It was almost like the child was dropped out of the sky. The alpha werewolf took a step back from the circle, he let out a snarl and one normal wolf stepped forward with its fangs showing. It was going to send one at a time in hopes of wearing the man down then to kill him off with out him putting up much of a fight. The wolf lunged, the man took his scythe in one hand and swung it straight into the side of the wolf's head, knocking it to the ground. Then with two hands, the man lifted the scythe up high, then it came down ending the wolf's life. The alpha wolf let out a loud growl then snarled again. Another normal wolf entered the circle. This time the man left no time for the wolf to attack. He swung his scythe in a figure eight. The first swipe left a gash on the wolf's muzzle, it also knocked it's head aside leaving it's neck open when the second part of the figure eight swipe slashed. The head of the wolf rolled to the alpha wolf's front paws staining the ground with its blood. The alpha wolf howled a high pitched growl that seemed to fill the trees in the clearing. The other wolves ran back to the edge of the trees, but the alpha wolf did not budge. The man realized that now the real challenge started and that the first few battles were nothing compared to a alpha werewolf. The only thing the death of the two wolves helped the man was warming him up for a fight. Meanwhile the death of the two wolves also helped the alpha werewolf get enraged. They may have been regular wolves that he could have easily killed, but they were part of the pack never the less and there death's stood as a insult to his leadership and to his clan. The werewolf took no time to transform into his humanoid form. He started with several rapid deep growls, one long howl as he stood on his hind legs as the transformation took place. The werewolf's eyes were blood shot, fixed upon the man with the most intense diligence. It took several fake lunges forward, trying to psyche-out the man, But the man stood his ground, waiting. While one hand stood firm on his scythe, the other hand was loosening the dagger on the back of his belt. This werewolf was stronger and faster, but the man's best hope was to outsmart it. The werewolf made its move and lunged at the man. It was to fast for it to attack, he barely had time to block. The man was knocked to his back, and on his chest was the werewolf. Its hind legs pinned him down on his back while its front paws were on both sides of the mans neck while the werewolf was chewing on the handle of the scythe. The man took his legs and kicked the werewolf as hard as he could in the butt, causing the werewolf to fly over his head. When this happened, the scythe handle was broken in two and one paw by the mans neck slashed his cheek deep. The man quickly rolled to his feet while the werewolf staggered to his feet, not from pain but from shock. The man reached for his dagger and threw it at the werewolf. It hit it in the thigh in the soft tissue between the groin and the leg. The werewolf howled in pain and recoiled over the injury to remove the dagger. With not letting a moment pass, the man grabbed his scythe and swung it down to meet the werewolf's neck with full force. The werewolf managed to remove the dagger with a swipe of its paw and turned its head in time for the scythe to slash right through its massive right fang. The biggest part of the fang lay on the ground at its feet, the cut was very close to the gum, the cut was horizontally cut leaving a sharp, but extremely short remaining fang still attached. The wolf jumped back and landed on all four feet. Assessing its injuries, its best plan of attack was to retreat with its life. The werewolf made one last glare at the man, then growled a short and low tone. They all ran into the trees, not to be heard or seen. Seeing that the battle had been won. The man picked up his broken scythe, his dagger and the fang. The man picked up the child, who was sound asleep in his arms and started walking home. The next morning, the man's wife woke up to find quite the surprise. Her husband was taking care of a strange baby and he had a massive gash on his cheek. "Gregory, what happened," the wife asked almost hysterical. "Martha please calm down. You'll wake him up. I'll tell you all about it if you will just sit down and relax," Gregory said as he continued rocking the child. After a good twenty minutes of explaining what happened the night before, Martha began pacing around the room. "You have no idea where he who or where he came from," Martha asked, even though she heard the entire story, she was hoping he had some idea of my origin. "There were no tracks and no injury that could of been left by any animal carrying a child. He was had this blanket on him, but nothing else," Gregory said with a little frustration. His wife always seemed to ask the same questions a couple times hoping to get a different answer, it was a very annoying habit that Gregory had been trying to destroy for a couple of years now. "What do you know about him?" she asked with a bit of curiosity. "I would say that he is in good condition, no scars or defects, he's probably a year old, not to much older then Angela and he is very happy baby." That was about all Gregory could offer her to feed her hungry mind, he had only been with the baby for a couple more hours more then her. "Will you take him for a minute, I haven't cleaned up my cut yet," Gregory said. He had no sleep, had to battle wolf's and werewolves and he had a big cut on his face. He had pretty much wanted to call it a night but now the sun was beginning to rise, purging the forest of the evil. "I should probably put him down with Angela for tonight. From what you tell me, he hasn't slept for a while." Martha said. As she carried me to The crib in Angela room, my eyes were losing the battle with my eyelids and as the eyelids blitzed across there new territory, I was laid down in a crib and kissed goodnight. My last image I remember was looking next to me and seeing a baby look straight into my eyes.
That was how my story started, I was told all this by Gregory, although I have always called him Greg. Over the next couple of days, Greg and Martha talked to the town but still found no clues to where I came from or who I belong. Since they could not find my parents or a home for me, they took me in permanently as part of there family. I was given the name Hunter. Greg thought it was a nice name and the fact that he went on a "Hunt" for me. Years started to go by. When Angela and I were both six. Martha died of a strange sickness. It was hard on Angela and Greg, but slowly life got back to normal. For some reason, Greg never really fit the father role for me. Sure he risked his life for me and has always been there, but never once have I called him father or dad. Angela on the other hand, was like my twin. We thought the same things, acted the same way, and even always seem to know what the other was thinking. I loved her, like a sister. No more. We would have been a great couple, and since she was the only female I could get a long with perfectly, it was kind of a shame. Greg trained me ever since I was eight. he taught me how to fight, we ran a lot, and we always worked on making me stronger. Since Angela and I were always together, she would always help us like getting us a cold glass of water or giving us advice. Greg never told me why we trained. I always thought that he wanted to be sure that we could both take care of Angela, she was all that he had left of Martha and I guess he wanted to be ready if he ever had to go into the forest again. When I turned thirteen years old, my birthday was the day I was found, Greg gave me the fang from the alpha werewolf on a necklace. It was my prized possession. And when Angela turned thirteen, she was given a ginger cat. She named it Martha after her mom. She loved that cat very dearly. As we grew older, Angela grew more beautiful and I more stronger. She always said I had a attractive face and she said I would make a excellent husband to a very lucky lady. And I always told here that she would be excellent wife to anyone who was worthy. I always protected her from monsters and males. Some guys have tried things before on her, and I was always seemed to be close by with my sword making the point that they had either the choice of a long agonizing death or begging for my pardon before I made his life a living hell. Although I was older then her, she always seemed to be more mature and seemed to have a developed body a few years older then me. When we were twenty, Greg was getting into his late sixties and early seventies. He always watched over us, but Angela especially. I was considered the man of the house as I took care of Greg and Angela. I had turned twenty one. It had been a quiet life, I liked it but sometimes felt bored. For some reason, I felt as if I missed something in my childhood. A month after I turned twenty one, Angela and I were talking one night. We were in her room talking about when she turned twenty one and what she wanted. We weren't the richest family in town, so I didn't waste money with gifts and I always made something like a dresser or a model. We were talking when Martha came into the room and started purring. She jumped up to the window seal. The window was partially open. Outside, we could see a beautiful sunset. When the sun finally set. I sat up off her bed, and went to close the window. Martha wanted to be outside all the time. But I knew that Angela would be really sad if she got eaten so I always kept a close eye on the cat. Although the cat never liked me and was convinced if it died due to me, that at least I would suffer. When I reached for the window. Martha jumped out. "Damm" I said. Werewolves and other monsters often crept through town, but usually an hour after sunset. I went on my way to get the cat out side when Greg called me from his room. "Hunter, Would you please come here?" Greg called. He had really began to age. He had a cane, it was the long broken part of his scythe with a handle attached to it. I knew that the cat wouldn't wonder very far and I still had half an hour before any monster should come so I simply begin marching up to his room. "Aren't you going to get her?" asked Angela. It will only take a couple of minutes I said. "He'll be alright." I entered Greg's room to find him standing in the corner of the room. He was wearing his day clothes. He had changed very much since the night he rescued me. His full head of brown thick hair had become white and patchy. His muscles had slowly withered away. He looked at me, his eyes were filled with compassion. "We need to talk," he said with a heavy sigh. "I fill that I may not be alive much longer, maybe a half a year or more. I, He stopped and looked down at his feet, and at the once mighty scythe handle. "I am not as strong as I used to be. I want you to be strong, these next few months will be hard for Angela, I need some one to watch over her." Remember the time when you were ten and we went hunting for a deer. After the kill you looked to me with a look of amazement, and awe. You told me that you wanted to be strong like me. Well now it is your turn. I need you to take command. You have never seen me as a father, but more like a mentor. I need you to be my mentor now. As Greg's eyes filled with tears, he reached out to hug me. I could do no less then hug him back. This was a very important moment in which he did the best for his daughter by putting me in charge and giving me his role. When this long hug was over. I remembered that Martha was still outside. It had been almost twenty minutes up in Greg's room. "That damm cat," I said. He's still outside. I better go. I looked out Greg's window to check for any monsters. "Oh........Hell No!" I yelled. Outside down the street was a pack of werewolves coming this way. and by the lamp post licking herself was Martha. The werewolves hadn't seen her, but they were still advancing in this direction. They would be on her in about twenty seconds. "I hate that Cat!" I yelled. Greg's window was hard to open. I tried opening it several times. But it kept getting jammed. The werewolves would be there in fifteen seconds. One of the werewolves spotted the cat and started running.
"Sorry Greg!" I ran and dove out of his second story window straight in front of Martha. The Cat was extremely pissed to be showered in glass, but as soon as she saw the rampaging werewolf, she quickly forgave me and ran towards the front door. This werewolf was in it's wolf form, half way down the block were his six werewolves in humanoid form. They all stopped and watched as I took on the werewolf. I took my broad sword and pointed the flat side towards him when he lunged. He bit right into it, slashing the gums and cutting to the bone. I ripped the sword out of it's mouth taking several teeth with it then I slashed right down the middle of its skull splitting it in two. The other six werewolves were fixated on me. The one in the middle who appeared to be the tallest and the leader snarled then howled very loudly. Then the five other werewolves charged towards me making a circle around me, just like Greg said in his story. They were joking around pretending to lunge at me. They were going to strike anytime. When the werewolf behind me let out a painful howl. I turned to look at him like the other werewolves did, filled with curiosity, only to see a dagger barely piercing the skin on his chest. And up at the window seal, was Greg holding about seven more daggers in his hand. "This is why I made sure all are weapons had silver in them" Greg said. He probably thought this would never happen, but he was sure glad now that he had invested in silver weapons. I looked straight forward to the two werewolves in front of me, still memorized by the silver dagger in there friend's chest. I took my broad sword and slashed them across the chest fairly deeply. The two werewolves on each side of me were enraged as one raised his claw to slash my face, a dagger pierced through his paw. I then turned to my right and hacked off his entire arm, followed shortly a stab through the chest. I wasn't able to stop the werewolf from behind me from hitting me though. While I was attacking the werewolf to my left. Greg had threw two daggers at the werewolves I slashed across the chest. They were beginning to get up, until they were stabbed in the chest with a dagger. The one now behind me managed to dodge the dagger with his name on it and slashed my shirt. I didn't bleed, but it did reveal my werewolf fang necklace.
The leader werewolf suddenly took a sniff of the air, then another. He took a step forward into the light of the lamp post. Of his two massive fangs, one was missing, horizontally chopped off. I wore his fang. When he realized this, he quickly became very enraged. Meanwhile on the front porch, Martha was scratching the hell out of the front door and meowing like the werewolves were attacking it. And of all the worse timing. Angela opened the door to get her cat. I saw the look in the leaders eye's and yelled for Angela to get inside, but I was knocked up side the head by the werewolf that ripped my shirt. Angela looked over and gasped. But she didn't see it coming. When she saw me get knocked to the floor. She did not notice the rampaging werewolf heading straight towards her. She hardly had time to scream. The werewolf hit her head on and kept on running with her. I got up to chase him down. but I was knocked down again, with a giant foot on my back. I looked up to see the last werewolf posed to kill. When the last dagger flew and hit him through the ear. I was quickly released. I took my sword and slashed him three times. One for his left arm, one for his right and one for his neck. All three limbs hit the ground. I quickly ran towards the front porch. There I was met by Greg. "Do you know where they went!" I was enraged, scared and feeling helpless right now, I wanted to look to Greg for some comfort but that was my job now.
"They went towards the woods!" Hurry Now! I ran faster then I knew possible. I didn't know if she was alive and well or not. I only knew one thing. He will Die. He will die such a horrific death if anything happens to her. It will take days for him to die for good, that I will guarantee. I got into the opening of the woods and found a piece of cloth from Angela's dress. This did not comfort me one bit, I ran into the woods, I came to a fork in the road. I didn't know which way to go. Until I heard a scream, short and loud it was all I needed to guide me. Down the trail to the left. As I was running, I found the body of Martha. I hated that cat, but right now my mind was filled with images of death that I didn't care. I ran until I came to a clearing. A clearing I have heard of so many times. The clearing I was found in. In the middle of the clearing was the werewolf and Angela. She was being ravaged by it. She was almost all naked. He was on her shaking and growling. He looked at me. So did Angela. It is a look I will never forget. She showed helplessness in her eyes, deep sorrow, pain and so much more. Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. He raised his head back and lunged it straight into her neck. She looked at me the entire time. There was a long scream that was so loud it filled the entire clearing like a thousand girls screaming, then her eyes shut. The werewolf got up and ran. I ran towards her and covered here with my cloak. I held her in my arms, I prayed to god that she would live. I looked her in the eyes, and they slowly opened, she tried to speak, but her throat was to badly injured. We both new that I couldn't help her now. Her mouth was hung open, and she and I both looked in each others eyes, I remembered the time when I was a baby, my only baby memory was looking her in the eyes for the first time. I remembered how we grew up and are bond of love, trust, friendship and respect. She still looked into my eyes. I took her and kissed her. It was the only way I felt I could show her how I loved her before it was two late. She managed to raise her arms around me and we held each other. The kiss ended, and I just held on to her. Crying, we just held each other. A minute later, her body went limp. I stayed there. I laided her on the ground and covered her with my cloak again. I then covered her eyes after I looked into them one last time like I did so long ago. They still showed love, compassion and pride. I simply put my head on the ground and cried. Greg was there a minute later. He came to my side and almost collapsed when he saw Angela. He cried by me, he needed my strength now. I threw my head back and screamed. A scream that seemed to echo through out the entire forest. It was silent for a minute, everything stopped to wonder what made the noise. But to me, it was a moment of silence. After what seemed to be an lifetime of mourning, I stood up and started chuckling then laughing out loud in a hysterical laughter. Greg just looked into my eyes, and understood everything. I wasn't laughing because she is in a better place. I was laughing thinking about how I will kill that werewolf. How he will beg for mercy and death. How he will suffer. Greg simply looked into my eyes and saw this all. He became very quiet, but he knew that the werewolf will die a death that that both of us shall look forward to with great expectations. The werewolf's life in my eyes had just ended, his death will signed. It will not be long now.

Chapter 2

That night will live in my dreams, nightmares and mind forever. Greg and I stayed there for hour or two. I eventually sent Greg home, he knew the way and could probably make it out ok, but he knew that I could not take him home tonight. Three dominant emotions were surging in my mind, Love, Remorse and Vengeance. If anything were to happen to Greg, he always had more daggers or weapons on him somewhere. If one thing was for sure, Greg always prepared for the worse and rarely was unprepared. Greg begin his trip home, he saw that I could not go, not now. I waited by Angela's side, waiting for the smallest sign of commotion in the direction Greg went, but none ever came. I finally got up, Looking down on the innocent body of my beloved Angela, who was stolen from me. She was my life. I would have faced the dark open jaws of death a hundred times just so she wouldn't feel sadness. But in the end, I failed. This night, I lost so much. My beloved Angela, a major part of my relationship with Greg, Angela was what mostly kept us together and for one moment on this night, I lost my sanity. Angela was everything to me, the very thought of a world without her was impossible for me to even comprehend. When her life was taken away from me, my world was destroyed. And now as I looked down on her lifeless body, In my mind, she still speaks to me. "I 'am so sorry Angela, god I am so sorry," I yell. "It's alright Hunter, you tried," her gentle voice tells me. "No its not, I couldn't stop him and now you have died at my hands." "Did you kill me?" Angela asked. "NO! I could never hurt you." "Then why do you blame yourself. If you could not stop it, then you cannot say it was your doing." "I promised you I would always be there for you, I have never failed you before and the moment that you needed me the most, I wasn't there." " My dear hunter, I love you so much, but you must be strong, you were always strong for me, so please don't stop now." Her gentle words echoed in my head, yet still she lay there, peaceful and unmoving. I wanted that werewolf dead, however there were only two problems. One, he was probably running like mad still, I killed his clan and werewolves aren't very smart, but I am very sure that this werewolf saw my pain and anguish. He knew what he had coming. Two, how should I kill him. I thought and planned out several horrific deaths involving the time span of two days or more. Every death was dismissed because it was always missing one thing, not enough pain. All the world could torture the werewolf but could never come close to what I have suffered. I couldn't think of a way that I could keep him alive for more then a week while having him suffer unimaginable pain. I put this all aside in my mind. There was one thing I wanted now, death. My Angela was taken away by the evil things that live in this forest, so this forest would suffer for my loss. I waited for something to show it's self. After a little while, a zombie came out of the bushes. It must of smelt the death and flesh here. It probably came for a bite to eat, but I would no sooner kill Angela before I let him eat me or her. The zombie came looking for food, after I removed his limbs, he quickly became food for the maggots. It was only three hours before sunset, but that was all the more time to seek my revenge. Another zombie came accompanied by a skeleton. The skeletons arm was pretty messed up, it probably wanted to trade. Yet again I removed their limbs for the tiny creatures who like the dead. An hour later, we were joined by some huge beetles the size of a cat that made a weird clicking sound. They came in swarms, thirty at a time. They were easily killed by stepping on them or hitting them with a sword. They came in so many numbers that I made a combo that was basically step and slash, step and slash and step step and slash slash. Just before dawn, a couple of bats tried attacking me. Their tiny bodies were hard to hit, but when it did, they went down for the count. With the dawn of the new day beaming down on the forest, all evil vanished, not to be found until the days end. I picked up Angela's body, her skin cold and stiff. The shock hadn't left me, I was still expecting her get wake up annoyed that she was practically naked in the middle of the forest in my arms. I made my way to the town slowly, this was the last time I would be around her, physically. I just wanted to think of all the good times we had. And all the times I protected her from monster and male moron. The one time it truly mattered, I failed. When we reached town, few people were out of there houses. When we were spotted, people gathered around. The two things that really bothered me were the fact that I am not very social and the fact that I was now surrounded by tons of people was not at all comfortable by any standards. And the small little detail that I was carrying my dead sister covered by my robe and my sword covered in blood of the things I killed were not helping at all. About twenty of the town villagers were on both sides of me and behind me, nobody dare walk in front of me, nobody in their sane mind would walk in front of someone like me who just had this horrible thing happen. When we reached my house, I looked up at Greg's broken window to find him sitting by it looking out at me. He left the view of the window and appeared at the front door. I walked up to him, and bowed my head down. I was ashamed, I was his son in a sense and here I was holding my sister, from which I could not prevent her death. He simply stepped out of the way of the door and allowed me to enter. The crowd of people outside our front porch stood in silence. I entered the house and made my way up to Angela's room while Greg was talking to the crowd. I laid her down on her bed and covered her up. I turned to leave the room to find Greg standing there slouched over on his cane. I glanced out the window to see that the town's people were now on there way to where ever they were going. I took Greg out of the room, he didn't need to be around her now, he once was a strong intelligent man. Only now his strength has left him and his mind is slowly weakening. No man in his condition should be seeing this. I took him to the kitchen where we began to talk. He didn't sleep last night and all this has left him in a twist. After a while, Greg could hardly keep his eyes open, so I helped him up the stairs to his bed. I quietly left the room and closed the door gently. All I wanted to do now was to go talk to Angela. When ever Greg would sleep and all are work was down, we would talk and figure out what to do for the day like a picnic or something that we could do together. I still had a hard time thinking. Everything I did revolved around Angela. I would talk to her for advice. Spend just about all my time around her. I walked over to her door and stared at her lifeless body. I slowly forced myself to realize that she was gone. This concept did not come easily, but I eventually began to accept the truth that would forever change my life. I spent the next couple of hours trying to avoid her. I took a bath and cleaned up wounds. I got into some new clothes and cleaned my sword until it shined. After a while, I made up my mind to return to Angela's room. I took a wet cloth and some bandages to clean the wound on her neck. After that was done, I dressed her in her favorite clothes and laid her body flat on her bed. I fixed up her hair so she looked good. She often took pride in her hair like how it seemed to shimmer in the sun, and how on a windy day how it would dance in the air. After the struggle, the seemly endless night, and the early morning, I finally decided to get some sleep. I made my way to my room. My room mainly consisted of a bed, a dresser, a grandfather clock and a weapon rack. My room was complete with a soft rug colored dark blue that matched my blanket. The rest of the room was a light gray color. I put my sword away on the weapon rack. Greg got a big shelf when I was eighteen and spent about a week or two working on it making shelves especially designed to hold swords and other weapon's of destruction. Now the weapons that hung from the rack were gifts from previous years. I had gotten a scythe, a broad sword to which is still my favorite, a scimitar, some daggers, a metal shield that has never been used, it was given to me for my eighteenth birthday along with the rack. I think Greg gave it to me to say be careful. It is a fine shield, but I always preferred offence all the way then taking extra precautions. I guess I could put it on my back for protection, and incase I ever needed it. But I have never been injured badly enough to have the learned my lesson of bringing a shield. Other then that, a big cross was carved on top of the rack by Greg, he was always very religious. I removed my clothes and folded them neatly on the floor by the head of my bed. I removed my fang necklace and placed it on a little hanger I put by my bed to hold it. I laid down in bed and tried to sleep. So much has happened in the past twenty hours, I had to stop thinking and sleep. I simply put all of my worries out of my mind and tried to focus on what needed to be done. Sleep. Just before I dozed off, I heard Greg's door squeak open. I heard a few boards creak in the direction of Angela's room. And after that, all went blank.
It was almost dark before I woke up. I got dressed in my black pants, my red under shirt and my black shirt. I put my belt on with my sword in its sheathe. When I was ready to leave my room, I took a deep breath and twisted the handle. I now felt extremely nervous in my house. The only reason I call it my is the fact that Greg did adopt me, but never once has he ever called me son, or I calling him dad. Now that he is all that is left, I had no family here. I eventually found Greg in the kitchen. He was sitting at the dinner table accompanied by several baked foods, they must have been from the town trying to help us feel better. I stood in the door way waiting for Greg to notice me. After what seemed like hours, he slowly raised his eyes in my direction. When he saw my feet, his eyes quickly raised to meet mine. "Gifts from the locals I presume. This should last us a while," I said trying to get a smile on his joy deprived face. "All the treasures from the kitchens from the town. Many of them stopped by today offering help or services like a coffin for Angela." He managed to speak the entire sentence with a small smile. But on the last word, the smile quickly was recalled to a face that currently had a void of all emotions. "I will have to talk to them, unless that is you want to arrange this." I suddenly had a great wave of grief come over me. This man has had his wife and practically all of his family was now dead. And here I was trying to control what would happen to his daughter now. Sensing my grief, Greg raised a hand as a symbol to not worry about it. "I am now a old man, I do not think in my state and under these conditions that I can't do very much. I trust you, so I will let you be in charge of her now just as long as I'm there, I don't mind." This decision really confused me. In the past couple of years, Greg has turned down something's due to age. And there are times I am convinced my care for Angela surpasses that of his, and that is kind of scary. I guess these two things together made sense in Greg's mind. Oh well, I guess it's my job. After the lovely little chat I had with Greg, Greg's energy seemed to run out. I escorted him up to his room so he could turn in for the night. After the candles in his room went out, my mind went from many things, to one. Find the werewolf. Now that my number one priority was taken care of, the sweet nectar of revenge filled my mind with ways to kill him. The problem still remained on how, all I could decide on was that it would take more then three days. And to achieve that, I had to capture him first. I made a quick trip to my room for supplies. I ended up taking about everything I had. I strapped the scythe to my back, then I put the scimitar at my other side of my belt. I then took six daggers and concealed them in my black shirt and I finished my "killer" costume by putting my werewolf fang necklace around my neck visibly so the world could see it. I made my way out the front door after making sure every window was shut, locked and covered. The cold night grabbed at my exposed skin as a mellow breeze flowed over the town. The moon was almost a sliver tonight, providing little light. I made my way towards the forest slowly, listening for anything that dared to enter town. For if I found that unlucky monster, I would make an example of it to make sure that that breed of evil thought twice before entering this village. As far as I could tell, no evil was in my range of sense's. That's a shame to, I would now have to hunt down the evil my self. If I found something, the ear shattering screams of the victims would send for more monsters to fight. Basically sending for more and more victims. But oh well. At least the town won't have to worry about the piles of bodies in the streets. I made my way through the forest, constantly searching for something to kill. If I found it, it was that creatures fault. Because I the only things that lurk out here would only reveal themselves to me if confident they could end my life first. Anything other then that was prey to the others out here. If I didn't kill it, they would probably die a more painful death anyway. Nothing came to me yet, these beast may not have brains, but they can probably sense the lust for death and destruction rather easily. I eventually came to the clearing. My clearing. Angela's clearing. I looked around hoping to find that, that... The thought of that werewolf fills me with so much hatred and anger, I have a hard time talking about it and a really hard time trying to name it. To call it a werewolf would give it a name that represents power and strength. I can think of a name to give it. A name that suits it so well it must have been designed for a the doomed soul that evoked certain destruction on its self. I would say it, but Angela would probably gasp for saying such a foul word. Nothing was in the clearing. Nothing living or dead, no tracks and no evidence of what happened the night before. Nothing could have disturbed all the tracks of the footprints and bodies. But it hadn't been dark for to long. So whatever was here couldn't left to long ago. I searched the edges of the clearing looking for anything, a broken twig or a footprint or paw print. I found three broken twigs on the far left of the clearing. Sense I had nothing else to go by, I started through the twigs following a far fetched plan at most. I kept traveling through the bushes. I would hack down one bush with my sword, But as soon as I destroyed one, three more would seem to appear a foot ahead of me. It only got more and more dense as I went along. This all and all seemed useless, So I made my way back to the clearing to do some killing. Upon returning, I still found nothing that I could smite. So I you can't find a monster, have a monster find you.
I started yelling and kicking trees and raising all hell that I possibly could. I shouted until my throat became sore. Through all this yelling and screaming, a wolf came to me. Not much, I was expecting maybe a swarms of everything that would like to start the night out with a death of a living creature. But I guess this was all I had to work with. I made quick movements to annoy and threaten the wolf. I growled and glared while it just stood there. Whatever I did, I think I pissed it off. It crouched down and started showing its shiny white fangs to me. This was a good thing. I rarely kill something that couldn't defend its self unless its for food. But then again, my mind was covered in thoughts and urges to kill till the bodies practically made a tower that that the town could see. I ran towards the wolf as fast as I could. It probably surprised it. But after the half second of shock, it responded in turn by running towards me as fast as possible. I came to a halt and stood in a defensive position waiting for the wolf to make his move. And not to disappoint me, the wolf jumped into midair paws stretched out to land on my chest and pin me down. I responded by taking the broad side of my sword and smashed it into the side of the wolf's head with expert timing. This diverted the wolf's coarse to my right side. I didn't inflict major damage on it, but if it lived, it wouldn't be able to walk straight for a couple of days. Without giving the wolf time to breath, I slashed my sword sideways without even looking and felt the blade pierce flesh and bone. Then all the pressure on my blade was gone, I must have made a clear cut. I looked to my left to see that I had taken the upper part of the wolf's skull off and exposed the brain of the wolf. It was a clean cut, I probably couldn't have done much better even if I was looking.
The first kill of the night. It felt good and relieved some of my problems. But, I still wanted more. And never to disappoint me, more came rather quickly. First zombies, then the beetles and then a combination of wolves, skeletons and a small green imp with a wooden staff. No matter there numbers or size, they all came to the slaughter. This went on for several hours. Maybe a hour or two before sunup, I had another visitor. But this was no beast, at least I don't think it was a beast.
The bodies had risen in piles in the clearing to make a feast that all maggots could never forget. I had started a small fire in the middle of the clearing to help aid my vision and to attract more beast. I settled down for a minute by the fire to rest. I had been fighting for almost ten hours. That is a training session that will make anyone tired. Have you ever had the feeling that you are being watched. The hair on the back of your neck stands on end and chills shoot through your body. The wind suddenly pick up and I got that feeling. I got to my feet and began to search around the bodies piled around looking for anything that could pose a threat. I continued to find nothing but death. It was unusual that nothing came to attack me. Half way through the night, it occurred to me that the carnage of everything I killed attracted more and more victims. The more I killed, the more they came. But since I got that feeling I was being watched. They seemed to stop. I returned to the fire hoping that the feeling of another presence would go away, but to no prevail. I looked around the trees to see if there was anything. And that is when I noticed it. A crouched figure was high on a branch directily over the clearing. It appeared to have a human form. Through the cloak, I could see nothing. Its outline showed that all four, if it had four, limbs were clamped to the tree. When it noticed me gazing straight at it, it sprang to life from its crouched form and blitzed into the trees. It moved so fast it seemed like it was Gliding from the branch into the dark depth of the forest. Whatever it was, it was very fast. It moved like a water, gracefully and skillfully. It disappeared within seconds into the dark void of the forest. Before I had time to contemplate that mystery, another swarm of monsters made their way to the clearing. And minutes later this resulted in another mass of bodies. I tried to figure out who my mystery guest was, this task wasn't easy. I managed to climb up the tree with the limb it was on. Their was nothing. No scratch marks, no broken twigs. It must have been skilled in leaving no evidence because balancing on this particular limb would be almost impossible. Along with all of the small twigs that covered it, the branch couldn't hold more then a hundred pounds, and anything that large and graceful wouldn't be able to sit on this for long. If their is one thing I hate, is not knowing something or mysteries. I liked things to be solved and put aside so I don't have to wonder about them.
The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon. Its rays piercing into the darkness of every crack and window filling them with warmth. I needed to get home before Greg woke up. For some reason, I really didn't feel like telling him I've been killing mass hordes of creatures all night while putting myself at risk. I ran as fast as I could to get home before anyone saw me. If anyone did see me, Greg would probably hear about it later in the day. I took many short cuts through back alleys and I even ran across a couple of roofs to avoid everyone. I got to the front door just as the baker across the street came out for his morning walk. I faked a quick stretch and acted if I had just come from inside. It looked like I did to, if you overlooked the small stains of blood on my sleeves, the sword over my shoulder and the muddy boots. But not thinking much of it, the baker simply went on with his stroll. I cleaned my boots outside and slipped inside the house avoiding the squeaky entry board. I threw my shirt into the laundry pile, under a few other articles of clothing so not to be noticed and stealthily made my way up to my room. With all of my weapons put neatly away, I decided that over two hundred kills was enough for one night. And that it was time to recharge.
Only to disappoint me further, twenty minutes later Greg came in to wake me up. Today was the day we were going to handle Angela's funeral plans. We sat down in the kitchen with the ideas on what to do. A hour later we both left the house. I had Greg take care of the bakery and flowers. Everything else was mine. My first stop was the gravedigger's hut. The guy there built coffins along with the grave's them selves. I burst into the front door only to find him building a coffin on the front table. He looked up rather surprised and shocked to see me. Maybe it was because I had my sword strapped to my back and my sudden dramatic entrance. "I'm already working on the coffin, don't worry." he said with a little irritated voice. "That's the coffin?" It wasn't the best of work. He could probably could of done much better. I looked around the hut to see work that would be fit for a king. The gravedigger looked around and looked at his current work only to come to the conclusion that this was going to be a long night. I spent the next three hours making designs and selecting materials for her grave. I picked red velvet padding for her grave and a angel carved into the top of the grave.
After I had selected all the materials and created a design plan, I told the gravedigger I would be inspecting his work later and left to take care of the other tasks at hand. I looked down at the list I had made of things to do, their was talking to the minister about the ceremony, getting the townspeople to come to the funeral. Their was one other thing that Greg insisted that I do, all though I really wasn't looking forward to it at all. Talk to her friends. I felt really uncomfortable around her friends. I always hung out around her, at her friends house I would often sit somewhere far off in the corner. Talking to them was something I did only when I was asked a question, which probably happened about once a year, if that. I made my way to the church to discuss the plans with the minister. An hour later I left the church with a plan of the arrangements. It would have gone a lot quicker if the minister wasn't constantly trying to talk to me about how I felt. On top of that, he went a wrote a memo for later to tell everyone about the funeral. It was really helpful. It probably saved me a days work of talking to everyone. On the other hand, now all that was left was to talk to her friends. It was about two o'clock. They probably wouldn't hold me until half an hour before sunset. Compensating for the walk their and the time it will take for them to all get together, I had a maximum of six hours of torture.
I made my way to the "leader" of the groups house to start the dirty deed. I knocked on the door, hoping that they were all somewhere else. It was a nice door, mahogany wood with white trimmings. The door slowly opened as a small child's head appeared. She was probably six to seven years old. She had extremely blond hair, so blond it probably could be mistaken for white. "Are you here to see Elizabeth"? she asked. And with great hesitation, I responded "Yes I would, thank you very much". She disappeared into the house leaving the door ajar. And to my ultimate horror, I saw them. All of her friends sitting in the living room. Teary eyed and seemingly very emotional. The little girl tapped a girl with a blue dress on the shoulder. She leaned over and whispered in her ear. She girl in the blue dress's eyes widened and glanced over to see me in the door way. She quickly sprang to her feet and ran to the door to meet me. "Hunter! Hunter please come in!" She said as she pulled my arm inside. Every female in the room sat up and rushed towards me. Elizabeth kindly asked me to leave my sword and shoes by the entrance. I wasn't sure if I should cling desperately to my sword incase I need it or do as I am told.
I left them both by the door. The next five hours went by so slowly I could of sworn the clock went backwards at one point. Unlike all my other experiences here, I could not retreat quietly to a corner at gaze out the window. They surrounded me like little imps prepared to strike. They sat me down in a large chair by the fire place. They were all going out of their way to get me something or to help me. They brought me refreshments and asked if I wanted anything to eat. I after they brought me some water and bread to eat (I don't have to talk if their is food in my mouth.) they all sat down in the various chairs in the room. Elizabeth started to speak about how badly it must be for me and how they all wanted to help me. She said she would like for me to talk about how I feel and I could cry or do anything. I nodded my head and glanced out the window on the other side of the room. If god possessed any mercy towards me, something would appear that needed smiting allowing me to leave here happy. But god must have a sense of humor to make me last through this. I found out many ways to avoid female contact today. The major way was to let them do all the talking. I would say something, like "I remember when," and I would tell a short story that they could all relate to. After that, they would all tell a story about Angela. By the time they were all done, they had burnt up to an a hour of time. Or if I was asked a question, I would just look to the window or floor and remain silent. This usually worked, however one time I did this, one of the girls came over to me and hugged me. This wasn't a bad thing, but then all the females got up to hug me. After that little fun episode was over, I had a few tear stained shoulders and a kiss on my cheek.
When the sun was about to set, they bid me farewell. If they had know that I do not fear the night or beast that come in the dark, they would have held me for longer. They actually asked me to spend the night. I am sure any guy in town would attempt to strangle me for saying no, but I had to go home and help Greg. Greg was eating dinner when I got home, he was eating some salted deer. I remembered when I made that kill last week, and how Angela prepared it when I came home. I served myself some deer and sat down next to Greg. "So, how did it go with Angela's friends", Greg asked with a small smile on his face. He knew I wasn't very social, but I was even worse around females. So Greg was having a good laugh about my little adventure. "It was fun, I don't think I have had that much fun ever since I was juggling daggers and grabbed the wrong end," I said with a small smirk on my face. Greg started laughing pretty loud, I too began to chuckle remembering that experience. "I have to return to the gravedigger tomorrow to help with the coffin, he was building one that would probably been half decent to a animal. I am making one that would make a king proud now." "That's good to hear, so how much will it cost, we can't exactly make it out of gold you know," Greg said with a small amount of depression in his tone. "I talked to the minister, about that, it should cost about six silver pieces altogether. I thought it would be more but the church pays for part of it." "Well if it is as nice as you say it is, how much does it cost then. It sounds pretty expensive." "It is much cheaper if you help build it, so I am which basically all we have to pay for is the materials and minor labor."
After the dinner conversation, Greg once again went to retire in his quarters. Twenty minutes after Greg's lights went out in his room, I had a very difficult decision to make. I could return to the woods again, the wolf still wasn't found. And that was a major priority to me. On the other hand, I haven't slept in more then six hours in the past seventy two hours. Overall, my bloodlust reigned supreme once again. Within minutes I was battle ready standing outside ready for another round with the forest. The wind was colder tonight. It grasped with a harsh smack to the skin, clinging itself to me trying to wear me down. It didn't stand a chance. As I made my way to the forest, I kept my ears open for anything that stalks the night. It is a proven fact that nothing will come when you want it, but when it is least expected or needed, their you have it. I stepped into the clearing once again. The bodies and piles of corpses have all vanished, another magical mystery of the forest. I looked around I found no evidence, but I did find the smell and presence of death. The best way to attract darkness in this forest is with the presence or existence of life and death in the same area. I rolled up my arm and made a shallow cut to draw blood. And with a hand in blood, I began to dash it around the clearing. It wasn't long by any standards until I had many guests. And with another night gone, and another night of senseless and vengeful killing, the sun did rise. Their was no evidence of my visitor or the werewolf. Although it was a small constellation that the forest was temporally "purified" of the evil. I made my way through the forest and into the town as quickly as my legs could carry me. Through trees, alleyways and bushes to get home without any witnesses. I rushed to the front door, flung it open hopped inside. Upon doing this, I found Greg in the kitchen facing the window. I froze in horror as he slowly turned around. I rolled to the right out of his sight, only to hit the noisy floor board. After Greg heard this, he gradually made his way to the doorway. With no more then ten seconds to spare, I stood up quickly and removed all my weapons. I latched them to my belt with my broad sword and necklace and I threw them up in the air. The sword pierced the ceiling above the stairway, I was amazed that it stuck all the way up their. As this was a two story house, the ceiling was about twenty feet above the door and the equipment was at least thirty pounds. As Greg rounded the corner, I flung my arms behind my head and let out a large yawn. "Good morning Greg, did you sleep well?" I asked trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. "Good morning to you too. Can I ask what is it that you are doing?" Greg asked with a bit of contempt in his eyes. "I was trying to go to the gravediggers, I thought up a new idea that would look great and reduce the price. What are you doing up so early, you usually don't get up till eight." "Troubled sleep. I went to check on you earlier but you weren't in your room. What is it that you are up to?" Greg asked looking mighty suspicious. "I went for a morning jog. I couldn't sleep either, but I also couldn't just lie around the house." "Oh, is that all?" "Yeah? Why do you ask." "This isn't like you. You have been acting weird ever sinc..... OH, I SEE IT NOW! You like one of those girls you met yesterday at Elizabeth's. Tried to go and impress her, huh?"
My face filled with horror and shock. But Greg held a straight, stern face, Until a huge smile covered his face. We both broke out laughing. Greg may not be the smartest of them all, but he could pull of a excellent joke with almost little timing.

To be Continued...

by Dolan Kasnick

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